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July Drabble Challenge: Parallels

Having always had other fandoms on the side other than Harry Potter, I’ve certainly been inspired by other pairings before. Sherlock/John, for instance, reminds me of Sirius/Remus. Both John and Remus are the more practical and bookish ones, while Sherlock and Sirius tend to take more risks, and I’m guessing they’ve probably saved each other’s lives several times just like John and Sherlock have done. I've always had a tendency to draw parallels between HP and non-HP pairings because of similar characterisation, plotlines or simply a line that a character says that reminds me of a Harry Potter character.

Your challenge this month, therefore, is to write a drabble featuring a pairing inspired by a non-HP pairing in any fairly well-known book, TV show or film. There are no limits on pairings, provided the HP pairing conforms with the MNFF guidelines (no incest, bestiality, rape glorification, etc). Also, there’s no need to claim a pairing — if you all want to write Destiel-inspired drabbles, go right ahead XD (though I would like to see more variety than that, ha).

But that’s not all! There are also POINTS up for grabs. You will receive five points for each drabble. I will then put the drabbles up for voting, so along with participation points, provided we receive enough quality entries, we should have at least a first and second place, with first place receiving ten points and second place receiving five.

These are the rules:

~Drabbles should be between 300-800 words.
~This is an anonymous activity, and therefore, only your beta is allowed to know you wrote it.
~Your chosen HP pairing must conform to all MNFF guidelines. No Charlie/Bill or Pig/Ron, please.
~Your drabbles should be rated no higher than 6th-7th years, and please remember to censor any naughty words.
~Try and choose pairings from fandoms that are at least fairly well-known or at least have a Wiki page.
~Please pair up canon characters only -- no OCs.
~You're allowed to enter if you're on a hiatus at the moment, too

Please PM me your drabbles by 7.59am BST on 16th July 2013. Good luck and happy writing! If you have any questions, PM me directly, just to retain anonymity.

She twisted the ring in her finger, going over to stand by the window, because Merlin knew, she needed fresh air. The sunlight filtered through the sparse clouds and fell on the ring, causing the lone diamond on it to glint almost happily. Her hands were trembling slightly, her eyes on the diamond. Screw the bloody stone, she thought, it had no right to be this happy when everything was falling apart — when everything around her, her whole world, was melting away. She turned to the man standing behind her.

“Why?” she whispered, mostly because her voice refused to come out completely.

Harry sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“No, Harry,” said Ginny. “You have to tell me why.”

“It’s just…” he hesitated. “I can’t believe it happened again.”

She looked into his green eyes, sad and wilted behind his round glasses. She loved him so much. And she knew he loved her too. She just couldn’t believe that this was happening again. All over again, after what they’d been through.

She shook her head. “You have to give me a better excuse than that, you know.”

“It’s not an excuse,” said Harry. “This is the second time that a Death Eater tried to kill you.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not your fault!”

“It is, this time.” Harry paused. “I should have understood the dangers of my work and—”

“And never get married?” Ginny asked him bitterly. “I thought we were over this once Voldemort was gone!”

“I thought the people I loved would stop being in danger once Voldemort died,” said Harry quietly. Ginny could see the helplessness in his face, and it almost killed her. Why wouldn’t he understand for once, that the whole world wasn’t his responsibility anymore? That just avoiding something wouldn’t avert it entirely?

“So?” she said. “Breaking this engagement will keep me safe, will it? Because all those Dark Wizards out there will stop trying to target me, since I won’t be your fiancÚ anymore?”

“Something like that.”

Ginny raised an eyebrow at him and slid the engagement ring off her finger as she walked over to him. “Harry?”

He looked at her guiltily, and then at the ring. The look on his face was devastating.

Ginny stopped right in front of him. “You’re full of crap,” she declared. Then she raised her hand so he could see it, and purposely slid the ring down her finger, so he could see that too. “And I’m staying right here, with you, unless you give me a genuine reason for a break-up.”

“I want to be with you too,” he said. “So badly—”

“That’s settled, then,” she said. “I refuse to discuss this further. And now that we’re still getting married in two months, I need you to help me pick out colours.” Without waiting for his reply, she grabbed her fiancÚ’s wrist and led him to the bed, where the book waited. As they sat down, Ginny cupped Harry’s cheek in one hand and kissed the other.

Parallel Ship: Catelyn/Ned (Game of Thrones)
HP Ship: Druella/Cygnus
Title:Certainties
Warnings:none
Rating:1st-2nd years
A/N: There is somewhat less character death in this than in GoT.

I knew from a young age that one day, I would become a Black. One day in my future – perhaps a happy day, perhaps not – I would become Druella Black, resigning my birth name and family ties. Once you married a Black, you really did have to become one. The appearance of family unity was paramount, and that meant taking up the Black mantle in every way. I was aware of that long before I married, long before I understood the meaning of marriage, even. It was a certainty.

I also knew from a young age that I would, one day, be engaged to Alphard Black. This was the second certainly of my childhood; my family had knoqn that I would become a link between the Blacks and us long before they knew to whom I would be linked. That first certainty of mine proved well-founded; the second, less so. When it emerged that Alphard wasn't one to toe the family line, that he was likely to soil the mantle that their family so prided itself on, it was agreed between our parents that we should not marry.

I had no involvement in the decision. From the Black perspective, I was seen as a good match, a girl with a good family name and a good personal reputation. I was not to be wasted on a son who seemed the sort to get blasted from the family tree – a fate not dissimilar to death in their eyes. From my parents' point-of-view, Alphard Black was a lost cause, nowhere near worthy of their daughter. In that respect, they seemed to value me highly: only their idea of the best could marry me. In spite of this, my opinion of Alphard – a surprisingly favourable one that I have not admitted to since – was not consulted.

Alphard was, of course, eventually blasted from the tree, although it took somewhat longer than predicted. I had been married to his younger brother long before then. At the time of my marriage, I barely knew Cygnus. I had been introduced to Alphard, in the days when our betrothal was still viewed as likely, and I felt that I knew him. Cygnus, however, was thrust on me with somewhat less ceremony, a hasty replacement. I, being the dutiful daughter, made no complaint. I was still becoming a Black, and I was still going to love my husband, in one manner or another. I was simultaneously certain, on being told of my betrothal, that my wedding day would not be a happy one.

I was right in that certainty. However, it needn't have been that way. Initially, I loved him just about well enough to produce three daughters, and for a time, the girls were the only receptacles of love in our household. Over the years, however, things softened. There were small touches: a comforting hand when Bellatrix simply would not sleep, a supporting arm when my mother's death threatened to crush me, a brush of the lips just before I had to face my father. Words, too, grew more comforting, familiar. The greetings and simple questions, the kind manners, gained in importance, until they started holding me up of their own account. It wasn't the sort of love that swept people off their feet, but when it came, it came to stay.

Because I'd like to see more entries for this challenge (and because you may have been busy with writing for the SPEW Summer Swap), you can use this challenge as your monthly activity for this month, too. If you've already entered, you can always enter again